The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1887-04-20
FIVE NOTABLE MEN.
The Manners and Appearance of the H.
ter-state Commissioners.
Philadelphia Press.


The Interstate Commerce Commissioners
show as many radical differences in appear
ances as any five men who could have been
selected. They vary in height ell the way
from the giant Walker, of Vermont, down
to the five feet six or seven inches of Judge
Cooley, and in girth again from the COM
Portable proportions of Mr.. Walkers waist
band all the way to the narrow chest and
stomach that the Judges small waistcoat
matter of fact, is the disappointing
figure in the commission. The
popular impression about him, gained
very likely from the artistic wood-cuts that
take tie place OF reading matter in the
Western newspapers, has been that ne was
stout, solid, and somewhere about sixty.
His face was supposed to be round and
jolly, bis beard shaved of little for con-
venience in getting at his mouth, and his
weight, which seemed in the pictures to be
one of his principal features, amply SUI
fcient to keep up his judicial dignity. To
get at the truth about his appearance you
have to picture exactly the opposite kind
of man. He is slender, notwithstanding,
and, for so aggressive man, very modest
in speech and manner, He talks with his
head bowed down, as il thinking carefully
over what was said, and in mere formal
matters is courteous, polite and considerate
mess his manner to close observer is
changed. He is as polite as before and just
as considerate, but something about him
indicates that he has made up his mind,
and, whether pleasant or unpleasant, must
carry his decision out. He is not evidently
the kind OF a man to say mo" roughly,
but il he says it even in his most uncer-
tain and deprecstory way there is some.
thing about it that would evidently make
orNf IN
gray hair and the lines in his face show the
traces of long wrestling with hard prob
lens and his high forehead gives some
measure of his ability. Altogether he is
not unlike a clergyman in appearance,
and his differential way of standing up for
his principles does not do anythlngStO
lessen the likeness. e
Mr.. Morrison, the second member ot..the
board, is the most talked of and leastsun
derstood man in public life in the country.
A great many people offer the explanation
for the difficulty In understanding him
that there is nothing in him TO understand,
and il is very serious question often
whether they are not more than half right.
Mr.. Morrison is accessible always, and in
his way courteous, but nobody comes
away from his room knowing more than
when he went in. For telling what won't
be done he has very few superiors but
q
infOrma ton or opinion there is nothing to
be got from him. On the tariff question,
" which has been his chief stock IN trade,
there is a very well defined opinion here
that his clerk knows great deal more
than he does. He never gave away any of
his information at any rate, and probably
was rightin not reducing the stock.
In the commission so far be has had
very little to say, nominating Mr.. Cooley
.ffa oh Trrnr = .f tho
arrangements between himself, Mr.. Carlisle
sno the President that he should do so,
and then settling back to little ordinary
committee work in arranging about rooms
and place of business. He will hardly be
as prominent on the commission as in the
House, and especially will not shine while
Carlisle and the Breckinridges are away.
MorrisOn's figure is familiar. His plain
blue or black coats, his narrow trousers,
with their tendency to climb up his boots,
and his shiny hat have been described for
years IN letters from Washington. His
manners, however, are indescribable. He
is witty, ugly, good-humored and irafcble
in the same minute, and the man who
thinks himself snubbed in one instance
will find himself laughing at his good
humor in the next. His friends say he is
kind-hearted, but he is too dogmatic and
careless about other peoples feelings to
ever be popular socially.
Commissioner Bragg is the typical South
ern man. He is big, rough, careless about
formalities and very vigorous in talk. In
his dress he evidently takes Attorney
General Garland for model. He wears a
big hat with a stiff, fat brim and top
like an inverted stew-pan, and an overcoat
which usually has to hold on by the top
buttons. His hair is dark and pretty
closely cropped, and his beard IS mostly on
oh IN 10 u-oo eli huf
are not of the light shade that dudish
swells like to wear on Chestnut street, and
even in the South can hardly be consid-
cred a good tit 1t is about even guessing
that he will divide the honor with Attor-
ney-General Garland next winter OF being
the only man in Washington who won't
wear q dress suit. Since his appearance
here he has been living at one of the no.
tells. talking very little to anybody and
giving no one a chance to get anything but
an outside impression of what he will do.
He is very little known except among
people of his own State, and even from
them the only definite information to be
gained is that he was a good railroad COM
missioner. The probability is that he will
be pretty clear headed in his opinions
and very decided in sticking TO them. He
will hardly follow Judge Cooley every
where.
Mr.. Schoonmaker, of New York, has the
air of a conservative business man. He
don't look excitable or easily worried, and
has been regarding the food of callers and
letters with praiseworthy serenity. His
appearance is something like that OF
James 6. Blaine. His hair and full beard
are gray, his nose prominent, his eyes
large and his color good, and in a profile
view especially he shows very many of Mr..
Blaine's characteristics. His eyes, with
the heavy surges underneath them, mark
the resemblance strongly.
Mr.. Shoemaker talks very little. He
goes at it conservatively, comfortably aud
slowly, as if he would Just as soon talk as
not, and gives the impression that, while
be is willing to discuss ordinary matters,
authoritative promises and statements
can't be made until he is certain ABOUT
them. His place on the commission is a
little difficult to indicate, but he is GER
tainly not near so likely TO push his own
plans as Bragg. Possibly be will supply
the balance wheel which the concern very
badly needs.
Mr.. Walker, the friend OF Mr.. Edmunds,
has as powerful a frame as the Senator
must have had in his younger days. He
is over six feet tall, broad-shouldered and
full-chested and just stout enough to
round outa good figure. He has a large
head, short, full beard, into which the
gray has not yet began to come, and hair
that, for want OF better name, might be
called brown. He looks like thoroughly
competent business man, and in appear